


A Cycle of Healing

by aperfectpearl (dimensionhoppingrose)



Series: Her Son, My Son [6]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Bird mom, F/F, Family, Fluff, Gem War, Hurt/Comfort, Pearl is the ultimate mom, Pre-Canon, Sad Fluff, canon character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-08 22:53:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18904312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimensionhoppingrose/pseuds/aperfectpearl
Summary: Sometimes Rose took care of Pearl. Sometimes Pearl took care of Rose.Sometimes Pearl takes care of Steven.And sometimes Steven takes care of Pearl.





	A Cycle of Healing

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly don't know where this came from, just thinking about what huge influences Rose and Steven were in Pearl's life, and how the reverse must be the same and... now we have bird mom.

It wasn’t _always_ Pearl who got hurt.

Rose was never poofed, thank the stars. But that didn’t mean she was immune to harm, even with her shield. Gems got the drop on her, or caught her in the time between when she threw it at someone and when she re-summoned it. Or something would explode before she could summon her shield or bubble.

And just like Rose took care of Pearl when she was hurt, Pearl took care of Rose. She’d taken to carrying a bottle of Rose’s tears around, and when there was a lull in the after-battle pandemonium, Pearl would pull Rose aside to take care of her.

“You fuss too much,” Rose said with a sigh as Pearl cleaned her burnt arm. “It’s not like my gem is cracked.”

Pearl looked around to make sure no one was nearby, then hissed, “You have a meeting with Blue and Yellow tomorrow. How would you explain your arm being hurt?”

Rose grimaced, then groaned. “I completely forgot about that.”

“Of course you did,” Pearl said dismissively, re-focusing on Rose’s arm. “You always forget them, that’s why you have me.”

“No, I have you because you’re an amazing second-in-command,” Rose corrected. “Although… I’d probably be lost without you.”

“Hopelessly lost,” Pearl agreed. “No one to keep your schedule, no one to remember when you need to be back on the moon, Blue’s and Yellow’s communicators just going off over and over and over...”

“Okay, you weren’t supposed to agree _that_ much,” Rose grumbled, although she was smiling. It had been two-hundred years since they had rebelled, and Pearl had come so far. She didn’t do anything because she was told to do it. She didn’t help Rose because she was _supposed_ to. She did it because she wanted to. She had made her choice when she had insisted on staying and seeing the war through.

And thank _stars_ for her memory.

“Okay,” Pearl said, lifting the cloth to inspect Rose’s arm. “I think you’re okay.”

“Of course I am, I have the best gem taking care of me.” Rose cupped Pearl’s cheek, leaning in and kissing Pearl lightly. Pearl was blushing brilliantly when Rose pulled back, and she laughed. “You’re adorable when you blush.”

“Stars, you two are too much,” Bismuth called from the fire. “Come on, we’re having a party over here!”

Rose grinned, taking Pearl’s hand and dragging her back into the main camp. Pearl stuttered for a moment before recovering herself and laughing.

* * *

Rose took care of Pearl. Pearl took care of Rose.

And then Rose was gone.

And there was Steven.

The house was a nice distraction for Pearl. She had no idea how a boy so small could leave such chaos in his wake, but cleaning gave her something to do when they weren’t on a mission.

Pearl was puttering around the kitchen, cleaning counters which didn’t really need to be cleaned, making sure all the dishes were spotless, when she heard the creak of the door opening. “Hello Steven–” Pearl sang as she turned, then froze, her face falling. Steven was limping slightly, his elbows scraped, the left knee of his pants ripped, and the edges were stained red. “Steven!” Her voice cracked as she bolted across the room, scooping him up. “What happened?!"

“I fell off my bike.” He sniffed. Pearl set him on the counter, examining him closely. Now that she was close up, she could see several scrapes running up and down his arms, and his knee was bleeding.

“How?! I thought those extra wheels were supposed to keep you safe?”

“Peaaaaarllll.” He drew her name out with a sigh, the way he always did when she clearly didn’t understand something important. “I’m _nine_. I don’t need training wheels.”

“Clearly you do!” Pearl turned on her heel and hurried to the bathroom to get the first-aid kit. “Did you take them off?”

“Dad did.” Of _course_ Greg did. Pearl rolled her eyes. “I asked him to. I’m too old for training wheels. The other kids don’t have them.”

“You’re not the other kids, though,” Pearl insisted as she walked back out and set the first-aid kit on the counter. “Can you roll up your pants leg?”

“Yeah.” Steven wiggled to roll the up his pant leg and expose his injured knee. “I was doing fine until a squirrel ran in front of me. I almost hit it.”

“You hurt yourself over a rodent?” Pearl unwrapped an antiseptic wipe and tried to clean his knee, but he yelped, pulling back.

“That hurts!”

“Healing hurts sometimes. Hold still.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Steven grumbled as he uncovered his knee, pouting.

“Neither does falling off your bike because you didn’t want to hurt a squirrel.”

“I didn’t want to hurt it.”

Pearl sighed, gently wiping his knee and grabbing a band-aid. “You were at least wearing your helmet, right?”

“Yeah. You gotta kiss it better.”

“What?” Pearl blinked, bewildered.

“When you get hurt, an adult has to kiss it better. That’s the rule.”

“Steven, that doesn’t make any sense.”

He shrugged. “That’s the rule.”

Pearl raised an eyebrow, but she relented, pressing a quick kiss to his knee. “Does that help?”

Steven grinned. “Yeah.”

It seemed like an odd and pointless human ritual. But, Pearl thought with a small smile as she went to clean up his elbows, it was sweet, and reminiscent of his mother, whose kisses really _had_ healed.

She supposed it made a _little_ bit of sense.

* * *

“ _Well… I think you’re pretty great_.”

Pearl was always teetering on the edge, especially when it came to Rose. Steven was a beautiful, wonderful child, and she was better for knowing him, but she still missed Rose _so much_. It felt like a wound that would never really heal.

Lion had torn that wound wide open.

And Pearl had… overreacted. She knew that. But how could Rose _hide_ something from her? How Rose managed to keep a secret at all was impressive, but from _her_? From Pearl? How was that possible. Pearl knew everything about her. _Everything_.

What else had she hidden?

Steven’s arms fitting completely around Pearl’s body was impressive. She knew she was slim, but he was so small…

 _I think you’re pretty great_.

The tears swam in Pearl’s eyes. She couldn’t cry in front of Steven. She couldn’t.

His hugs were so comforting.

Pearl took a few minutes to make sure wasn’t going to burst into tears before she gently turned, pulling an arm free and wrapping it around Steven. He snuggled into her side, and she held him tight.

“Oh,” she said suddenly, pulling away. “Let me see your hands.”

“No, they’re fine,” Steven insisted, but she was too fast for him to stop her. His hands were unsurprisingly scraped, and Pearl spared a moment of thought for self-hatred before tapping her gem, summoning a first-aid kit. Steven stared at her gem, wide-eyed. “You keep a first-aid kit in your head?”

“Of course. What if you got hurt on a mission? We need _something_ to take care of you.”

He winced as she wiped his hands down, then place a band-aid on each palm. He looked up, giving her a small smile.

“You gotta kiss it better.”

Pearl laughed despite herself. “Right. Of course.” She kissed both palms gently. “Better?”

Steven threw his arms around her neck, hugging her tight. “Yeah.” Pearl wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight.

Humans had a saying about time, and how it healed wounds. Pearl didn’t believe that.

But maybe… _maybe_ Steven could.


End file.
